Tucked away on Erickson Road, beside Spectrum Farms, are some of the hardest working and most beneficial therapists in Creston. They are the horses of the Creston and District Society for Community Living’s Therapeutic Riding Program, and for much of the year they focus on working with riders with disabilities of all ages. These are highly trained and skilled horses with amazing sensitivity to their riders.
But like all hard working creatures, they love to eat, they love time off when they can rest and visit with each other, and they need proper facilities in which they can be kept clean, warm, and fed.
The Therapeutic Riding Program will once again be holding its major fundraiser, Art Trot, in March but it is adding a new idea to generate interest. This is a birdhouse decorating competition. For $10, a birdhouse is supplied along with an entry into the competition. The decorated birdhouses will then become part of the Art Trot fundraiser and will be auctioned off as part of the silent auction. The best decorated birdhouses in three age categories will win a prize. All anyone needs is the birdhouse and their imaginative brilliance to paint, decorate and make their birdhouse completely fabulous.
Here is how you can you can participate in the birdhouse decorating competition. First, visit Morris Flowers Garden Centre at 1403 Erickson Rd. to purchase your birdhouse and fill out an entry form. Second, get creative. Make the birdhouse as beautiful as possible, using craft and art supplies from local stores. Third, enter your birdhouse in the competition.
The entry deadline is Feb. 19. The completed birdhouses are to be dropped off at the CDSCL office at 205 Seventh Ave. N. The winners will be announced at Art Trot at the Creston and District Community Complex on March 5 at 5 p.m.
For the winning entry by someone 11 or younger, the prize is a $50 Creston Card and Stationery voucher. For the winner from those 12-18, the prize is a $75 voucher from Lectric Ave. Electronics. For adults 19 and older, the creator of the best birdhouse receives a dinner for two at Real Food Cafe.
Schools will also be participating in the birdhouse contest. In previous years, students have contributed posters, decorated horseshoes and other items to the Art Trot silent auction. This year, everyone in the community will have a chance to be part of the care and support for the Therapeutic Riding Program, which contributes so much to the whole community in so many ways.
Therapeutic riding benefits many kinds of disabilities and contributes positively to the cognitive, physical, emotional and social well-being of people with disabilities and emotional issues. Working with horses, both on the ground and riding, improves posture and co-ordination, helps develop gross and fine motor skills, and improves range of motion. In addition, riders with disabilities gain self-esteem and self-confidence, learn problem-solving skills, and increase their ability to focus and stay on task. All of this while they are having fun! This therapy benefits the riders, their families and, consequently, their whole community as well.
Please help us to help the horses. Pick up your birdhouse next week, which comes either assembled or unassembled, and get started.
For more information about the program, visit cdscl.com/trp.htm.
—THERAPEUTIC RIDING PROGRAM